‘Articools’ and Articles
I chose to analyze this article from the magazine “Record Report”. I chose this style of article because for my own double page I wanted to write an album review/s.
Structure, how does it look? what is it about?
This article as an album review on both an album by Dr. Dre- The Chronic and an album by Heavy D & The Boyz- Blue Funk. The album which gained the better review (Dr. Dre’s album) has a more detailed and context based review as it collected a 4.5/5 where Heavy D & The Boy’z album on scored a 3.5. Moreover, The image of Dr. Dre is far larger than the Image of a Heavy D & The Boyz member. This is all important, as it wouldn’t make sense for things to be the other way around.
The article is laid out in quite a basic, formal and informative manor which has its ups and downs. The real hook behind the two reviews is which did better than the other and why? As the artists no matter what time period see it as a competition even if they don’t show it.
The author of this article creates intrigue through their use of a bold black and white image and catchy enticing key words at the bottom. People are reading this magazine to find another view on an album they like or to research the artist and of course just for entertainment. The formal layout of the article, although basic still has a huge more-factor because it is still encouraging social interaction in that their reviews could be perceived as controversial.
This article is written in 3rd person. This structure is used because stories are being told about things that have already happened- these albums have already been released so it makes sense to write in the 3rd person tense.
The introduction is clear and stylish and for the first album review there is a clear conclusion that reads, “Overall….”. This is a vital feature of any article as without it, it will appear unprofessional and just seem like an uncoordinated block of writing.
Are you aware of the presence of the journalist?
Yes, I feel like the journalist has indeed made his mark on the article. This is through his analogy based description to open the article comparing making an album to making a good movie like “Scarface” for example. As well as the fact that if the directors aren’t going stop making brilliant films that the music artists in the gangsta rap industry won’t stop making brilliant gangsta rap. What is notable about this analogy is that the journalist must have some interest in film if he uses a film oriented analogy to open his article.
Such style of journalistic writing has a widespread impact. This impact is that the journalist has a certain flare as a writer if he is bringing in other topics reflecting on his own personal identity in his journalism. Furthermore, it shows that this journalist is bold in comparing Dr. Dre’s – “The Chronic” to classic movies like Scarface and Goodfellas. But this bold aptitude is exactly what a writer needs to obtain to be successful, controversial, entertaining and to create a hook to their writing.
What is your sense of the location / event / person that the journalist is writing about? How is this achieved?
Quite a satisfactory tone is used with the second review of Heavy D & The Boyz – Blue Funk. Whereas, a largely high spirited tone is used whilst the writer reviews Dr. Dre’s- The Chronic. Each being shown by the contrasting openings and terminology. Dre’s review opens with a bold analogy and Heavy D’s review opens with a satisfactory tone.
In summary, the journalist clearly favours one of the rappers to the other shown in a number of ways; The image sizing, overall rating, word count for each review and tone in description. Dr. Dre is represented as one of the greats shown by the writer’s use of highly complementary description through nouns and adjectives such as, “Wizardry” “Innovative” and “Progressive”. and Heavy D is represented averagely by the writers use of an opening which reads “pretty much…”.